A Hero's Time
by Alanna-Lena Zelen
Summary: A alter senerio to TTP; starting from the excape from the Extintionist's compound
1. Diamonds

_Author's note: __As ever, the original series, character's ect. do not belong to me. The plot alteration cannot also be claimed because of legal reasons. But the character known as Almena is indeed mine, so no stealing! Please take no offence to the contents, as it is only a story. Now, to the story._

Diamonds

Voices were in her ears and raggered breath in her face, and by the time she had disentangled herself from the pack, the banquet hall was virtually deserted. A few stragglers, but no Artemis. _The souq,_ she thought,_ I will find him at the souq. _

Holly unshielded to save the last of her magic. No sooner than she solidified, one of Kronski's raced around the corner, noticed her, and radioed for backup. Holly went full sprint through main streets and alleyways of the medina, heading always away from the bulky guards, and leading them towards Artemis. _Too late to worry about that now._

Noticing the guards bulk stopped them from navigating through stalls, she started to weave through stalls ran by those dedicated to their job. Holly noticed she had started veering off track. Guards were blocking the street ahead, so she turned into an alleyway. Ahead of her, she noticed the open courtyard between her and the entrance to the souq. Guards ahead of her and behind blocked Holly's only escape routes. Holly looked up to the sky, hoping for anything, a miracle. At that point of time, Artemis Fowl II's younger time-twin threw his fee of diamonds out of the jet. _A distraction for you, fairy._

Below, shocked guards quickly came round and began stuffing diamonds into pockets and into torn off tops so they could carry the diamonds.

Holly quickly took off into the souq, looking for Artemis, or even the tell tale shimmer of the cham pod. Nothing. Behind her, Kronski snuck up. "First the boy, then you. It must be my lucky day. Any last words, girl?" Using the last dreads of her magic, Holly shoved her thumbs up Kronski's nostrils'. "Heal." Thankfully Holly had enough magic left, just for a small healing. All in a sudden, Kronski's sense of smell returned. The pungent smell of pigeon droppings was overwhelming. He ran screaming from the souq, the memory of tormenting people with the smell distressed his traumatised mind.

One of Kronski's guards who ignored the commotion over the diamonds crept up behind a worried Holly. "Kronski may not have the nerve to kill you, but I do. The reaction on his face will be worth it."

In a shadowy corner of the souq, a young orphan watched the commotion. Her brown dress hung limply around her crouching figure, and long brown hair around her face. The light made it hard to make out her shape, though two sharp, long ear-tips poked through her hair. Almena tried to warn the girl figure of the man sneaking up behind her, though no words came. _Behind you!_ She tried to shout with her mind. She also saw the blade in the man's hand slice the female figures throat.

Holly felt the kiss of the blade across her throat. She knew darkness was the only thing that would follow.

"Help me, Artemis!" _I'm doomed, and so is Artemis. I never realised how much I did love him._ From the shadows, the short figure of Almena erupted. A sharp blow to the guard's temple knocked him unconscious. Almena moved quickly to check Holly's vital signs. There was a weak, dodgy pulse under Almena's fingers.

Behind her, the figure of Artemis walked up. He quickly fell to his knees by Holly's side. Artemis too felt Holly's pulse. A tear fell from the young Irish teenagers' eye, followed by a cascade. "Who are you anyway?" Almena inquired.

"If you must know, I am Artemis the second. And who are you, and why is my companion lying dying on the floor?"

Almena sighed, tears brought on by shock dripping down her face and obscuring her deep-brown eyes. "Almena. I'm a runaway orphan. I lost my parents to the wasteland which surrounds us. Your companion was running from madmen waving guns, probably loaded knowing madmen. Diamonds rained from the sky, distracting them. She ran in here. A man, a rich man, grabbed her from behind. She stuck her fingers up his nose and mumbled something I couldn't understand. He let her go, and ran screaming. Another man, one of those chasing her, came up behind and slit her throat. I tried warning her, but I couldn't speak. I attacked that man-"She pointed towards the unconscious guard,"- and then you showed up."


	2. Paradox

Paradox

Holly was still alive, barely. They were in the shuttle heading for Fowl Manor, and for Artemis and Holly, their own time. Mulch was at the wheel, driving like a reckless maniac, causing Artemis and Almena to hit the shuttles sides. Almena sat shell-shocked, questioning Artemis,"How did this happen? What is going on?"

Artemis looked the orphan in the eyes, teardrops obscuring his mismatched eyes, "We are time-travellers. Beyond that, I cannot tell you."Holly shook under the strong grasp of Almena, moaning in pain, "She's going into shock." Artemis shouted into the cockpit, "Hurry! She's slipping!"

_Several frantic minutes later, over the Irish coastline_

"I think we will make it," voiced Artemis, quite perplexed by the situation. They were 20miles above sea level, flying in what the LEP call a _snogood _craft, with Holly severely injured and a kleptomaniac dwarf at the steering wheel. Their situation was grim, until Artemis was forced to announce that Opal Koboi was chasing them. Almena cried out involuntarily at Artemis' announcement.

30miles behind the rusted mining craft, Opal pondered over her first action as Queen of the World. In the front cockpit, Mervall checked the scanners with a drawn face, "Miss Koboi, there appears to be an old mining craft heading towards Ireland."

Opal's mouth dropped open, a highly undignified action, dropping a box of truffles, "Fairy craft? Mervall, are you positive?"

"That's what the sensors say, scarcely any power under the hood and no weapons, not even a shield. Should I shoot it down?"

"No, leave it. I wonder what they are up to."

"Well, they did fly most of the way supersonic."

Opal's face reconfigured, a scowl marking her usually superior expression, "Why didn't you tell me, incompetent no good for nothing!"

Mervall ducked her angry glare, feeling as if it was highly harmful. Descant pocked his head around the corner, feeling as if his brother was in a worse situation than he was. Opal noticed Descant. "Neither of you even _dare _to leave out any information that may be helpful. Now, head towards the northern highlands. I have a sneaking suspicion they are up to something."

_Fowl Manor_

Despite the situation they were in, Almena still managed to gasp in surprise at the vast extent of the manor. Artemis had already given her a quick fill-in of the situation, jumping straight to covering the information relevant to the quandary. Artemis handed Mulch the starter chip, "Promise me that you will dump it as soon as you can. By the way, don't go selling anything to the LEP."

Almena stood waiting by the front door, holding Jayjay in her arms. The lemur happily combed through the orphan's hair, dismayed to find no nits. Artemis had already remembered to disable the alarms, to the interest of Almena.

Artemis brought Holly inside on a stretcher with the assistance of Almena, successfully triumphing over the staircase leading upstairs. Artemis entered his room first, checking with his mobile to confirm there were no heat signatures other than his mothers in the house. Holly shuttered, red sparks spiralling skyward to create an entrance to the time stream.

From behind a curtain the younger Artemis and Butler stepped, revealing themselves in a flurry of curtain, "Curious. What exactly are you up to?" questioned the younger Artemis, taking off the hood of the fireproof jacket. He had cleverly hidden Butler's and his own heat signatures using the foil. Butler drew his gun from under his vest, flicking off the safety and pointing it to the ground.

Almena was crouched over Holly, trying to hold her down as she convulsed. Her head came up, meeting the eyes of the younger Artemis," There is no time; she's drawn to the time stream. I feel it." The elder Artemis also looked, an expression of fury and concern fighting to dominate, "There is absolutely no time, we have to go."

The younger Artemis knew a challenge when he saw one, "You have broken into my house twice, and stolen my lemur, so I at least deserve an explanation to the _time stream _comment."

Artemis tried to flick his hair out of the way, intending for his younger self to notice the similarity between their appearances. His younger self groaned, "Why do you keep doing that?"

"Surely you recognise me?"said an impatient Artemis. Almena muttered something under her breath, seemingly struggling to anchor Holly. She repeated her statement out loud, "Hurry! I don't know how I know, but the time stream won't stay open long! You need to leave!"

Artemis looked into the twin blue eyes of his younger self, "Please, we need to go. It is a matter of life or death. His younger self drew comfort from the fact he held the upper hand, "I knew you would be back. It was quite interesting to see you appear from nowhere, I reviewed the security footage. Then you followed us to Africa, so I thought if I saved the creature's life you might end up back here with my lemur. We simply blocked our heat signatures and waited. And here you are. "

"That's pretty lax reasoning," mused the elder Artemis."We were obviously after the lemur. Why would we return once we had it?"

Almena looked at the pair, quite annoyed about neither of them getting anywhere," Artemis, you obviously had a heart. I saw you throw the diamonds out of the plane to save Holly. It will be in vain if you don't let them go. What will it take to let them go?"

Artemis reasoned for a painstaking minute, "I want to know the truth," he said eventually. "I need to know the truth about all of this. What type of creature is _she_? Who is _he_, and why does he look so familiar? Why do _you_ look like her? Why did you want the lemur? Everything."

Almena let go of Jayjay, the lemur climbing into the elder Artemis' arms, "Get me some scissors."


	3. Lemur not yet compleited

Lemur

Mulch sighed, turning towards the shuttle, _waste of a good craft, dumping it is._ Behind him, a short figure snuck up. He found himself pinned to the fairy craft Opal had came in, the unmerciful cold barrel of a neutrino pressing against his temple. The pixie moved, allowing the moonlight to fall on her face. Behind her, two figures stood, trying not to shake in fear.

Opal smiled a fierce out of place grin for such a face. Mulch gulped, _ok, not good. Lie to her, don't tell the truth. _"Nice craft, whisper engine I bet."

The two figures gestured to Mulch, intending to warn him of Opal's temper. "You know, you seem the type to set the world on fire just to watch it burn."

The pixie smirked, typing the suggestion into her small handheld computer. "Nice idea. Now, tell me everything."


End file.
